RonMossad: The sanction of the victim and the guiltiest man in the room, Part II: SANCTION

The sanction of the victim and the guiltiest man in the room, Part II: SANCTION

This post is the second part of a multi-part series on the stubborn habit of Jews to perpetuate situations where they are the victims of their own actions. If you haven't read the introduction yet, I encourage you to check out Part I before continuing. If you're pressed for time, while highly reommended, it isn't required to go back in order to understand what we're talking about in this post.

____________________________________________

They are willing to bear nothing. You are willing to bear anything. They keep evading responsibility. You keep assuming it.
--Francisco D'Anconia

If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it—well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act.
--Hank Reardon

We will return to Jaffa, to Acre, to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to Ramle. We'll play soccer, Saraa. I'll be happy when we go back there.
--Hamas puppet "Nassour" to young girl host of children’s program

____________________________________________

PART TWO: SANCTION


Picking up where we left off last time with that ridiculous picture that encompasses much of what is wrong with the state of the American Jewish community...for a long time I thought that simple ignorance of reality was what drove these people to embrace the paradox of their own demise, but it goes much deeper than that.

Because you see, the Jewish lesbian who supports Hamas (who if they had their way would execute her, which eliminates her support for them - hence the paradox) in all her absurd irony, answers the immortal question posed by Francisco D'Anconia to Hank Reardon about midway through Ayn Rand's epic, Atlas Shrugged:

If the things I said are true, who is the guiltiest man in this room tonight?

While it is hard to boil down a 1,000+ page book into a single sentence - for the purpose of this post - the Francisco/Hank exchanges say it all. If you haven't read the book yet, go now and read it. I'll wait right here, patiently until you return.

While Atlas Shrugged is host to many themes, messages and subplots, the storyline that I always most identified with was that of Henry "Hank" Reardon. Reardon, a self-made, multi-multi-millionaire is a ruthlessly confident businessman and consummate professional with only one major weakness...he (like the entirety of the American society presented in the book) has been taught his entire life that it is his responsibility to support everyone who does not support themselves. His wife, family and the general public deride him as a greedy, selfish bully whose only concern is the bottom line - all the while living off the fruits of his labor even as they abuse him at every opportunity. Reardon's personal life is a truly miserable one as he is bound by a morality whereby he feels that by suffering at the hands of his tormentors and appeasing them, he is somehow a more virtuous person.

Even as society and the economy is decaying around him as the "looters" and "moochers" seize more and more of his wealth, property and freedom, Reardon continues to suffer and work harder because he loves his work and is driven by a desire to produce and progress - even though by the end he is producing almost exclusively for the thieves and murderers that make up the government in the book. The irony of course is that the people condemning him as being greedy and selfish NEED him to continue to produce because THEY themselves are incapable of it and without him they would be lost. Since everyone around Hank lives off of his production, if he refuses to produce, refuses to be "greedy" and behaves in the way his enemies pretend to want him to behave, they would ALL starve to death.

His willing subscription to their morality, his tolerance of their evil, his continuing to play their game with their rules is the only way they can destroy him. His enemies cannot succeed without the sanction of their victim. And it is thus the same with our enemies.

Since the first halutzim (pioneers) began working the fields and improving living conditions in what would become the modern state of Israel, Arabs against the Jewish state have demanded they vacate the land and "return" it to them.

Really? Where were these claims when Israel was a barren, backwater desert administered by the Ottomans for half a millennium? All of the sudden the Jews bring irrigation, highways and Tel Aviv to Israel and Arab residents who for 1500 years of foreign Muslim domination never even knew how to spell "nationalism" become the world's greatest political refugee problem. You don't think the Jewish presence in Ottoman and British Palestine significantly improved conditions for the native Arab population? How else would you explain 64,790 Arab immigrants to areas that became part of 1948 Israel? From that link:

The Arab Palestinian populations within those sub-districts that eventually became Israel increased from 321,866 in 1922 to 463,288 in 1931 or by 141,422. Applying the 2.5 per annum natural rate of population growth to the 1922 Arab Palestinian population generates an expected population size for 1931 of 398,498 or 64,790 less than the actual population recorded in the British census. By imputation, this unaccounted population increase must have been either illegal immigration not accounted for in the British census...

That means that 14% of the ENTIRE ARAB POPULATION of British Mandate Palestine was made up of IMMIGRANTS from just the nine years between 1922-1931! If the Zionists were so bad for the natives, why move to be CLOSER to them? End the occupation? And do what? Turn the entirety of the West Bank into Gaza City? Or into the pre-Israel swamp and desert that the Gallilee and Negev were, respectively?

And lest you think that these migration patterns ceased in the 20's and 30's...every single day anywhere between 68,000 to 115,000 Palestinians cross either legally or illegally into Israel for work or work for the very West Bank settlers who they claim to seek to displace. Apparently Zionist occupiers and Jewish settlers pay much better than Arab "freedom fighters". Just to put this into perspective, that works out to approximately 10% to 20% of the ENTIRE West Bank labor force is employed by Jews or Israelis.

What happens when Palestinians work in Israel or for Israelis/Jews? They pay taxes on that income to the Israeli government...which then hands the money right back to the Palestinian government. When the 2nd Intifada broke out and when Hamas came to power Israel caused an international uproar by withholding the estimated $50-$60 million a month that they transfer to Fatah and Hamas. For those mathematicians not named Hugo Chavez, that works out to between $600 and $720 million per year.

If you clicked the link that had to do with the Palestinian labor force, you would have read on the CIA Factbook that the ENTIRE PALESTINIAN REVENUE COLLECTION for 2006 was $1.63 billion. That means that nearly HALF of the TOTAL Palestinian intake (which is then used to purchase guns, print schoolbooks that talk about eliminating Israel and fund TV programs that brainwash children into thinking that they should throw rocks at Israeli tanks) is funded by the VERY PEOPLE they seek to destroy. And oh, by the way, in 2009 an additional $900 million was pledged to them by the US and A State Department.

How about the case of route 443, a road that links central Israel to Jerusalem? Or any of the "Jewish-only" roads that I'm sure you've heard the people crying crocodile tears about for that matter. Since the 2nd Intifada, several roads through the West Bank have been closed to Palestinian traffic due to DAILY shooting attacks on Israeli civilian vehicles left many innocent civilians dead or injured. My own cousin's car was firebombed while he was driving home from Jerusalem with his wife and baby girl.

Since the closure, this has for the most part ceased to be an issue. Now the Palestinians are demanding that this road be open to their traffic and in fact, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled in their favor. In a few months, the new rule will go into effect and many Israelis will be avoiding this road out of fear that their families will be targets again. The road (like the rest of the infrastructure in Israel) by the way, was built by Israelis.

Want more? Because we have it. Along with the "end the occupation!" refrain which we seem to have had since time immemorial, the newer, hipper catchphrase of the late 00's was the "end the seige!" mantra - referring of course to Israel's closure of Gaza in response to daily rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. From the Sderot Media Center:

Most English dictionaries define siege as an “act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies...”

Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website has reported that in the year 2009 alone, Israel allowed for 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 liters of fuel to be delivered into the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead.

“The IDF invested major resources to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip” stated Col. Moshe Levi, the head of the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, in November 2009. According to Levi, humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip increased by 900 percent compared to the previous year. Over 22, 893 humanitarian aid trucks entered into Gaza throughout 2009.

Aid trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip in the background. (Photo: Jacob Shrybman/Sderot Media Center)

Blockading the Truth: Getting the facts straight on the ‘Gaza Siege’

Let's for now grant that "humanitarian aid" is just that (ignoring the propensity of Hamas to seize medical supplies in order to sell them and use the money for guns and rockets that kill civilians) and just think about those 100+ million liters of fuel.

What basic thing do all militaries need in order to succeed? The ability to to move. What enables a military unit to move quickly, set up a rocket and then flee the scene before the return fire lays waste to it? An automotive of some kind, be it a car, truck, van, motorcycle, rocket sled whatever. What do all of these things need to operate? FUEL. Who gets first dibs on all the fuel that comes into Gaza (as well as everything else)? HAMAS. What does Hamas do with their fuel? KILL ISRAELIS. Who provides Hamas with fuel? ISRAELIS. Who provides the vast majority of electricity and water for the population that put Hamas into power? ISRAELIS. What do 68% of Palestinians think is a legitimate way to defend Islam? SUICIDE BOMBINGS AGAINST CIVILIANS. What people do 77% of Palestinians have an unfavorable rating of? AMERICANS. Who are the loudest supporters of Palestinians? AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS.

Who suffers for all of this? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who allows it to happen? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who, often FUNDS and ENCOURAGES their own suffering? Israelis. Americans. Jews.

Sanction of the victim.

Is it starting to click yet? In the end, it's not about Palestinian radicalism, Palestinian corruption, or ineffective Palestinian "leadership". The guiltiest man in the room isn't Hasan Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas or even Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

It's you. It's me. Like Hank Reardon WE are the ones that perpetuate this situation. WE are the ones that allow it to happen. And it is our fault because we should KNOW BETTER. And it isn't even that Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton's or Ehud Olmert's misguided policies allow the other side to succeed. Who put these in power? WE DID.

And by we I mean Jews who overwhelmingly swept Obama into power by giving him 77% of their vote and continue to defend their decision STILL TODAY, even as Iran continues to move towards nuclear weaponization and Israel's future hangs in the balance. This isn't to say of course that everyone who voted for Obama doesn't like Israel, but it's hard to claim you are a pro-Israel activist if you don't do the most basic thing you can do in a democracy if you care about something.

That is to VOTE for the people who will support it as opposed to people who will throw it under a bus.

This should be so obvious to us and yet still we pretend that it somehow makes us more virtuous to work (or at least vote) against our own best interests even as our actions directly or indirectly aid our would-be murderers.

This HAS to change. The clock is ticking.

____________________________________________

In the next installment: PERPETUATION, we will explore the roots of this desire to suffer and learn why this phenomenon is found in both the left and right wings of the international Jewish community.

RonMossad: The sanction of the victim and the guiltiest man in the room, Part II: SANCTION

Israel Matzav: Knesset Law Committee passes NGO transparency law

Knesset Law Committee passes NGO transparency law

The Knesset Law Committee has approved a bill that would require NGO's in Israel to disclose their sources of funding.

"The aim of the bill is to balance the democratic rights of groups and the right of the public to know who is funding them,” Knesset Member Elkin said. “I hope there will not be a repetition of what happened with the Goldstone Commission,” he added, noting that Israeli groups, funded by western nations and NGOs, submitted “misleading and partial information against the IDF" while claiming the reports were objective.

The grass-roots student movement Im Tirtzu revealed last month that the New Israel Fund provided money for several pro-Arab NGOs that supplied partial and slanted information to the Goldstone Commission, which issued a report accusing Israel of war crimes in last year's war against Hamas terrorists.

One such organization is the International Center for Transitional Justice, which accuses Israel in its website of grave violations of international law, including “extrajudicial executions, prolonged administrative detention, torture, forced displacement (often repeated), extensive property confiscation and destruction, movement restrictions, and collective punishment, much of this within the framework of a four-decade-long occupation.”

Judge Richard Goldstone has been a member of the ICTJ's Board of Directors since 2004 and is a signatory on a document issued by ICTJ six months before he was appointed to head the U.N. committee of inquiry.

Many Leftist Israeli NGO's are secretly funded by European governments. Under this bill, that won't happen anymore. The public will at least know where the money trail leads. And that's a good thing.

Israel Matzav: Knesset Law Committee passes NGO transparency law

Israel Matzav: US trying to restrain Israel on Iran

US trying to restrain Israel on Iran

Israel Radio reported this morning that the reason why the gaffemeister is coming here in March is to retract the green light he seemingly gave us in July to go after Iran. In fact, the analyst claimed that this is why it is specifically Joe Biden that is coming here and not the Obumbler himself.

While I have little doubt that the reason Biden is coming is to seek to stop us from attacking Iran, my guess is that Obama is not coming because his presence here now would provoke massive demonstrations in the streets against him, and he's not willing to have his image further tarnished.

And that's why Admiral Michael Mullen - who is also known to be at least somewhat sympathetic to Israel's concerns about Iran - was sent here to wave a red flag at the Netanyahu government. Will it stop the IDF from attacking Iran? Fortunately, it probably won't stop anything if our government decides that we are in immediate danger and there is no other choice.

The thinking within the Israeli military community is that when the chips are down, at the precise moment when Israel believes it has no choice but to attack Iran and no better operational window within which to do it, the US cannot stand in Israel’s way, cannot give Jerusalem a red light.

As so many observers of Israeli drivers’ traffic habits can attest to, a red light does not always mean you can’t drive through it. There are terrible risks involved, there may be collisions, pileups and casualties, but if you need to get to the other side, then nobody is going to stop you. In some parts of the world, you can even turn at red lights if there is no oncoming traffic.

There are some lines allies don’t cross with each other, and there are others that simply need to be crossed, with all the genuine sadness and acceptance of consequences that comes with crossing them. America won’t want Israel to fly through its red light all the way to Natanz, Isfahan and other such sites, placing its troops in the region in danger of Iranian retaliation, and scuttling President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world.

Some say that even if America gave Israel an explicit red light against attacking Iran, and Israel drove through it, nobody would believe that the US hadn’t given Jerusalem a green light, or even a yellow light.

Russia won’t want Israel to fly through its red light to Bushehr, which it is currently building at an enormous profit. Israel won’t want Russia to cross a red light and deliver the fearsome S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to the Iranians. But if the Russians feel that they simply must cross that red light (the Iranians have already paid for the system, at enormous profit to Moscow) then they’ll cross it, and Israel will have to find a way around the S-300, which will be, at the end of the day, just another technical puzzle to solve, like so many others.

But what would happen to US-Israel ties if Israel flew through a US red light to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities? Not much, according to one school of thought. While officials in the US administration would cry foul and may even impose some penalties, some experts argue that popular American opinion would be understanding of Israel, even sympathetic.

I think that's right. I also think that it's highly unlikely that the US would shoot down Israeli planes headed to Iran via Iraq as Obama foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has suggested. Obama realizes that he would turn himself into a lame duck President the minute that happened.

Israel Matzav: US trying to restrain Israel on Iran

Israel Matzav: Livni to challenge British universal jurisdiction law

Livni to challenge British universal jurisdiction law

Two months after a British court issued a warrant for her arrest on 'war crimes' charges during a trip to the UK, an embarrassed British government still has not amended its universal jurisdiction law to allow Israeli politicians and army officers to travel safely in the country. Livni has apparently decided to force the issue. She says that she will travel to the UK and allow herself to be arrested in order to embarrass the British government into changing the law.

Tzipi Livni, the Israeli opposition leader whose threatened arrest sparked the dispute, indicated last night that she was prepared to travel to Britain and “take the bullet” if that was the only way to shame the Government into action. “Britain has obligated itself to me personally that this subject will be taken care of and fixed,” she said. “Now is the time.”

Ministers promised to act after a magistrate in London issued a warrant for the arrest of Ms Livni last year, for alleged war crimes in Gaza when she was Foreign Minister. The warrant was withdrawn after she cancelled her planned trip.

The issue embarrassed the Government, and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that ministers were looking urgently at changing the law so that Israeli leaders felt free to visit the UK.

It would mean rewriting the principle of universal jurisdiction, under which private citizens can secure arrest warrants for offences such as war crimes committed abroad. Under one proposal, the Attorney-General, rather than just a magistrate, would have to authorise such a warrant.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, went to Israel to reassure political and military leaders that the Government was taking the issue seriously. But it has now become snarled up in the end of the parliamentary session.

What if the Brits actually put her on trial? What could go wrong? (My bet is that the people behind trying to get Livni arrested won't seek a warrant in the hope that by not forcing the issue, they will cause the government not to amend the law. But they may be stupider than I give them credit for being).

Israel Matzav: Livni to challenge British universal jurisdiction law

Israel Matzav: Saudis back striking Iran?

Saudis back striking Iran?

At a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Riyadh on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that sanctions against Iran won't work in the short-term, and that his country requires a short-term solution to the Iranian nuclear threat. He was not specific about what short-term solution he favored.

"Sanctions are a long-term solution," the Saudi minister said. "But we see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat," referring to Iran. "We need immediate resolution rather than gradual resolution."

He didn't identify a preferred short-term resolution.

US officials traveling with Clinton said privately they were uncertain what al-Faisal meant, since the Saudi government has been explicit in its support of sanctions against Iran. They said he appeared to be suggesting that sanctions may not be effective and that other action could be required.

There's only one immediate resolution. The only question is who does the deed.

Hmmm.

Israel Matzav: Saudis back striking Iran?

Israel Matzav: Obama now as popular in the US as in Israel

Obama now as popular in the US as in Israel

President Obama is now as popular in the US as he is in Israel. 6% each.

Epic fail!

Israel Matzav: Obama now as popular in the US as in Israel

Israel Matzav: Expert: US offer to Iran caused acceleration of uranium enrichment

Expert: US offer to Iran caused acceleration of uranium enrichment

Ephraim Asculi of the Institute for National Security Studies argues that the United States proposal to provide Iran with 20% enriched uranium provided Iran with the impetus to produce that uranium on its own (Hat Tip: Shmuel Rosner)

In any case, the failure of the deal gave Iran the excuse it needed for enriching its uranium to 20%, and therein lies the greatest danger to the outside world. For purposes of illustration, assume that approximately 3000 units of work are needed to produce 25 kilograms of uranium enriched to 90%, the amount and purity needed for a nuclear explosive device. Of these, some 2350 units are needed to enrich the uranium to 3.5%. Five hundred units are needed to further enrich the uranium to 20%, and only 150 units of work are needed to enrich the uranium from 20 to 90 percent. If the enrichment facility is ready, this last step can be accomplished in a matter of a few weeks. And this is what could happen if Iran builds up a stock of 20% enriched uranium.

Recently, a debate has risen as to whether Iran has made a decision to assemble a nuclear "bomb" (missile warhead, aerial bomb, etc.). If not, Iran remains a "threshold" state, which could take this decision and then break out and produce nuclear weapons whenever the opportunity or the need arose. If Iran amasses a stock of 20% enriched uranium this discussion is superfluous, since the time between the initial move and the accomplishment of the task is quite short. In this time, and in order to discover the move towards assembling a nuclear weapon, the outside world must first gather the intelligence as to this fact. It then has to verify the facts, since a wrong decision based on false facts can be perilous. After the facts have been gathered and ascertained, decisions on how to react have to be taken, first by individual nations, and then on the international scale. Looking at the history of the long drawn out process behind international decisions on how to deal with the Iranian issue, one can only arrive at the conclusion that if Iran has a stock of 20% enriched uranium it can no longer be considered a threshold state, but a full-fledged nuclear power. This approach is essential, if preparations are to be made to deal with such a situation.

The recent announcements concerning the strengthening by the US of the missile defenses in the Gulf region could be taken as a sign that the US is preparing for such an eventuality. Even worse, this could be taken as a sign that the US has almost given up hope that Iran could be persuaded, either diplomatically or through severe sanctions, to at least suspend, if not dismantle its uranium enrichment operations.

The wisdom of hindsight indicates that the October 2009 proposal by the US for the nuclear fuel deal only accelerated Iran's program towards achieving a nuclear weapons capability. Had the talks concentrated on the larger issues, including uranium enrichment, and had the issue of supplying the Tehran reactor with fuel as the need arises been dealt with separately, it would have been more difficult for Iran to have the excuse it now ostensibly has to enrich uranium to 20%. If the world does not react quickly and competently now that the 20% enrichment operation began, the inevitable will be here before long.

The West is in good hands. What could go wrong?

Read the whole thing.

Israel Matzav: Expert: US offer to Iran caused acceleration of uranium enrichment

Israel Matzav: Syria adopting Hamas and Hezbullah war tactics

Syria adopting Hamas and Hezbullah war tactics

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has issued a threat that in the next war between his country and Israel, Israeli cities will be targeted. Of course, that implies that like Hamas and Hezbullah, Syria will target Israeli civilians.

The Syrian minister's comments show the extent to which Damascus has adopted a terrorist modus operandi that is no different from that of Hezbollah or Hamas. Even though, unlike those groups, it has still not moved its rocket launchers into population centers whose residents are meant to serve as human shields, Israel is obliged to immediately issue a warning, in every important venue in the world, that Syria is acting in contravention of the laws of war. The kind of threat Syria issued requires a response that will ensure that the enemy will continue being deterred from carrying it out. Israel must also counter the ethical and legal implications of the Syrian threat.

I'm sure that warning will ensure that there is a Goldstone Commission appointed to investigate the Syrians when the war ends.

/sarc

Israel Matzav: Syria adopting Hamas and Hezbullah war tactics

Israel Matzav: Video: The liquidation of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

Video: The liquidation of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

Here's an AFP report on the investigation into the liquidation of Hamas terrorist and arms dealer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. A video follows.

Police are hunting 11 suspects with European passports, including a woman, for the murder in a Dubai hotel room of a top militant of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the Gulf emirate's police chief said on Monday.

The hit team which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh last month was made up of six British passport holders, three with Irish passports, including the woman, and the holders of a German and a French passport, Dhafi Khalfan said.

"We have no doubts that it was 11 people holding these passports, and we regret that they used the travel documents of friendly countries," he told a press conference, describing a rapid and professional hit.

While not ruling out "the involvement of (Israel's spy agency) Mossad or other parties in the assassination," Khalfan said the names on the passports had been passed on to Interpol to request arrest warrants.

Britain's Foreign Office had no comment about the accusation, while its counterpart in Ireland said Irish diplomats were seeking clarification.

...

According to Khalfan, Mabhuh entered the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, a day before his death using a passport that did not bear his family name.

He was then tracked by his killers who had reserved a room across the hall from his in the hotel, according to Khalfan.

The killers tried to force open his door but it was unclear whether they managed to enter or waited until he opened it for them.

"He was strangled after receiving maybe an electric shock," said the police chief, denying media reports that the Hamas militant had come to Dubai on a mission to buy arms from Iran.

Mabhuh's killers had left Dubai in the hours following the murder, said Khalfan, presenting the media surveillance camera footage of the team arriving and departing and their movements in the hotel.

The police chief added the group spent only 24 hours in Dubai, and that the killers used no weapons, credit cards or local phone lines during their stay.

Khalfan had harsh words for both the killers, who had needed a 10-member team against a sole unarmed person, and their victim, who had killed the captured soldiers.

Amid official silence in the Jewish state, Israeli newspapers have hailed the killing, with the rightwing Jerusalem Post calling it "another blow to the 'axis of evil.'"

According to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, citing unidentified Middle East sources, Mabhuh on arrival in Dubai was followed by two men described by local police as "Europeans carrying European passports."

The hit squad injected Mabhuh with a drug that induced a heart attack, photographed all the documents in his briefcase, and left a "do not disturb" sign on the door, it said.

Heh.

Let's go to the videotape.

Israel Matzav: Video: The liquidation of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

Israel Matzav: New revelations about the Goldstone Report

New revelations about the Goldstone Report

There's an important and lengthy video of a lecture by former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold that raises new and serious questions regarding the Goldstone Report. The video runs about 36 minutes and is well worth watching in its entirety here.

UPDATE 2:40 PM

More on this story here.

Israel Matzav: New revelations about the Goldstone Report

Israel Matzav: Thawing the freeze

Thawing the freeze

In response to a Knesset member's question, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai has told the Knesset that 29 (well, probably 28, because they counted one town twice) cities and towns in Judea and Samaria have violated the 'settlement freeze' by continuing construction on buildings that did not yet have a foundation two months ago. The moonbats at Piece by Piece Now put the number at 33. The list of towns reads like a who's who of the Jewish building enterprise in Judea and Samaria.

Settlements that Vilna’i said had violated the freeze include: Adam (Geva Binyamin), Oranit, Eilon Moreh, Alfei Menashe, Elkana, Beit Aryeh, Betar Illit, Barkan, Givat Ze’ev, Har Gilo, Talmon, Yakir, Kfar Eldad (Nokdim), Kfar Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Ma’aleh Shomron, Matityahu, Nokdim, Imanuel, Etz Efrayim, Psagot, Zufim, Kedumim, Rosh Zurim, Revava, Shadmot Mechola, Sha’arei Tikva and Tekoa.

Although he spoke of 29 violations, he listed Givat Ze’ev twice.

Peace Now added that it believed the settlements of Elazar, Kochav Hashahar, Nili, Kiryat Arba and Kfar Tapuach were also ignoring the moratorium.

Piece by Piece Now has also 'gotten religion,' accusing two towns of building on the Sabbath (let's just say I have my doubts that's true). But the Judea and Samaria Council had a good answer to the charges.

The Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip denounced the Peace Now report.

It charged that Peace Now, like other organizations funded from abroad, was part of an organized campaign of lies and half truths designed to harm both the state of Israel and the settlement movement.

“We’re talking about people who have never planted a tree, or built a home, but who are placing a stick in the wheels of the Zionist enterprise,” the council said in a statement it released to the media.

It noted with satisfaction the fact that the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria reached 320,000 in 2009, a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year.

Indeed.

This morning, I'm going to the circumcision of another 'fact on the ground.' That's the only answer to these modern day Haman's.

Israel Matzav: Thawing the freeze

Israel Matzav: Moonbat Congressman calls for US to break Gaza blockade

Moonbat Congressman calls for US to break Gaza blockade

A US Congressman has called on the United States to break the Gaza blockade.

The United States should break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea, a US congressman told Gaza students.

Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, also urged President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy to visit the Hamas-ruled territory to get a firsthand look at the destruction caused by Israeli's military offensive last year. The Obama administration, like its predecessor, shuns Hamas because the Islamic militant group refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Baird, who represents the district in which St. Pancake (pictured) grew up, has announced his retirement at the end of the current term. Good riddance!

Israel Matzav: Moonbat Congressman calls for US to break Gaza blockade

Learning About War

Learning About War

The more stories such as this one appear in the media, the more likely it is that reasonable regular sort of folks, the ones who aren't animated by this ideology or that, will begin to understand how war is waged these days. The more mainstream people understand this, the less audience there will be for the Goldtone reporters of the world. People will glance at their narrative, recognize how detached it is from reality, and move on. Remember how back in 2001, every Israeli targeted assassination of an enemy was automatically tagged as a breach of international law? Hard to image these days, isn't it, when targeted assassinations are the most commonly used tool of the Americans and their allies.

Close to the road and relative safety, soldiers saw a man in black walking. He was unarmed. They watched him in their scopes but did not shoot. Western forces in Afghanistan are operating under rules of engagement, or ROE, that restrict them from acting against people unless they commit a hostile act or show hostile intent. American troops say the Taliban can fire on them, then set aside their weapon and walk freely out of a compound, possibly toward a weapons cache in another location. "The inability to stop people who don't have weapons is the main hindrance right now," McMahon said after the firefight. "They know how to use our ROE against us." (h/t Silke)

Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Surviving Adversity

Surviving Adversity

Many of Israel's enemies, including some home-grown ones, seem to feel that if enough pressure is brought to bear on the Jews, they'll give up on their national project and move "back" to where-ever, so long as it's far away. This is an odd preposition, with no evidence to back it up, but it seems to keep the Palestinians and many other Arabs hoping, and they undoubtedly garner satisfaction from Westerners and Jews who tell them eventually it'll work.

In week or two the Daf Yomi folks will pass this story, about obstinate perseverance in the face of the military might of the most powerful empire of the day, Rome. Many Jews grew up on the story, but in these days of limited Jewish education, perhaps many others haven't. I'm reasonably certain many of Israel's enemies don't know the story or the tradition it fits into, which is regrettable since they clearly underestimate how obstinate we can be. The story took place in the decade of 135-145 CE, most likely.

The Gemarah is discussing how judges are appointed, and they're examining the rule that only judges who have been accredited by three previously accredited judges may set fines.

-Really? So how to explain the story told by Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav? [Here's the story]
Blessed is the memory of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, for if not him, the laws of fines would have been forgotten.
- How forgotten? They could have been re-learned?
- Rather, the authority to apply them would have been abolished. Once the Roman rulers decreed that anyone who accredited judges [the word is smicha] would be killed, and anyone who received smicha would be killed, and any town where smicha was done would be destroyed, and any county were smicha happened would be razed. What did Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava do? He went to an empty spot between two mountains, between two towns between two counties in the area between Usha and Shfar'am, and there he did smicha for five scholars: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi ELiezer ben Shamua. Rav Avaya adds Rabbi Nechemia to the list. When they realized they'd been seen by the enemy, he said to them, Run, my sons! What will happen to you, they cried. He told them, I'm here like an unturned stone [perhaps this means I won't run, and they'll kill me but I won't feel it, as a stone feels no pain]. The Roman soldiers didn't let up until they had stabbed him with 300 spears.

The Gemarah isn't convinced: there were two additional judges there, but the story doesn't mention them because they were less important than Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava [so the story doesn't prove that a single judge can give smicha]

Another problem with the story:
Was Rabbi Meir accredited by Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava? Didn't Raba bar bar Hana teach us in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Anyone who says Rabbi Meir wasn't given smicha by Rabbi Akiva, has it all wrong!
The Gemarah explains: Rabbi Akiva did give Rabbi Meir smicha, but he was too young at the time and it wasn't recognized, so he had to be given smicha again, this time by Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava.

The spot where this took place is still empty; you cross it when you take Route 6 north of the Barkai junction. Shfaram is an Arab-Druze town by the same name; Usha is a Jewish village.

[The daf Yomi thread starts and is explained here]

Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

History Never Stops

History Never Stops

And since it never stops, stories are rarely "over". For an extreme example, think of the poor Romans who thought they'd finally finished the story of those pesky Jews, back in the days of Hadrian. Guess they were wrong, huh?

On a vastly smaller scale, here's a fascinating story that Stephen Farrell of the NYT dug up in his newspaper's archive: Apparently the town the Americans and others are battling in this week, Marja, was invented a mere 50-some years ago. By well-meaning Americans. Also Nad-i-Ali, where an American missile accidentally killed 12 civilians two days ago. Wesley Morgan, a young man moonlighting for the NYT in the battle zone, follows up on Farrell's story with real-life evidence.

Fascinating.

Farrell's story is then commented on by lots of readers, who go through the usual gamut of navel-gazing we're-the-center-of-the-world introspection: history happens because Americans are nice, or because they're not nice, and so on. So predictable, so uninformed, so uninterested in history... and so boring.

Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Love of the Land: Roger Cohen And Wishful Thinking, Part 974

Roger Cohen And Wishful Thinking, Part 974

Eamonn McDonagh
Z-Word Blog
13 February '10

As readers of this blog know, Roger Cohen is not a wise man. His latest column in the New York Times gives further evidence of this.

Domestic U.S. politics constrain innovative thought - even open debate - on the process without end that is the peace search.

Open debate constrained, eh? Come on Roger, don’t be a tease. You mean the evil and oh so long tentacles of the Israel lobby are reaching into campuses, news rooms and the very halls of Congress to prevent people saying what they really think, and you know, you’re really sure, that what they’d say if the evil Zionist manipulators would only let them, bears a striking resemblance to what you think yourself.

Centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust created a moral imperative for a Jewish homeland, Israel, and demand of America that it safeguard that nation in the breach.

And if Jews had never been persecuted and never been victims of genocide I guess that would mean that they would have no right to self determination? Let’s try thinking about this another way. During the 19th century the idea began to gain traction among Jews in Europe that they were as entitled to their own nation state as anyone else. The same idea started to gain presence among many other peoples without states at the same time. Eventually the Jews got their state. Not all were so lucky.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Roger Cohen And Wishful Thinking, Part 974

Love of the Land: “Hello, Syria? Hey, it’s Ahmadinejad calling. Look, I know it’s been a while, but I really, really need a favor.”

“Hello, Syria? Hey, it’s Ahmadinejad calling. Look, I know it’s been a while, but I really, really need a favor.”

Judeosphere
15 February '10

Tariq Alhomayed, the editor of Asharq Al-Awsat—the Saudi-owned, international Arabic newspaper—believes that the Iranian regime is growing increasingly nervous over its political isolation.

Alhomayed notes:

There is a small – but important – piece of news that reveals the Iranian confusion and anxiety as a result of the western political deluge which is attacking Tehran from all directions, including Israel, after it was announced that Netanyahu is visiting Russia for three days. This small news item which was announced by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [IRIB] and reported by the Syrian-News website is that Ahmadinejad telephoned President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday and that “Ahmadinejad informed al-Assad that should Israel launch an attack on the region it [Israel] must be confronted and eliminated.”

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: “Hello, Syria? Hey, it’s Ahmadinejad calling. Look, I know it’s been a while, but I really, really need a favor.”

Love of the Land: Why is Ahmadinejad Smiling?

Why is Ahmadinejad Smiling?

Daniel Greenfield
Sultan Knish
15 February '10

Sprightly Ahmadinejad tours nuclear facilities, having stolen an election he marches on, as his police batter protesters. And everywhere he goes, he smiles his trademark loopy smile. The smile of a psychopath or a saint.

Why is Ahmadinejad smiling? The answer is not a terribly complicated one. With every step he takes and every day that he remains in power, he discredits the most deeply held ideas of Western liberals about the power of diplomacy to resolve conflicts and internal civil disobedience to achieve peaceful regime change. Despite years of diplomatic and hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets-- Ahmadinejad's grip on power remains as secure as ever.

Walking over the bodies of student protesters, of political dissidents, of the thousands killed by the wars he has touched off, he continues to taunt the rest of the world to do anything about it. And the rest of the world has done nothing except talk. And as Ahmadinejad has demonstrated, talk counts for nothing at all.

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be detached from ordinary reality, living in an Islamic version of Charles Manson's fantasies about touching off a spectacular war in order to bring on a new age, he understands his enemies well enough to call them out on their weakness. Like every other Islamic terrorist and warlord, Ahmadinejad sees diplomacy as weakness behind a mask of civility. And like just about every strongman in the world, he laughs at it.

Ahmadinejad may be a monster, but there are no shortage of monsters in the Middle East. Saddam Hussein was just as bad, yet much of the American and European left proved eager to shut their eyes to the rape rooms, to Uday's horrors of mangled limbs and broken fingers, to the ethnic cleansing and gassing-- while demanding that we respect Saddam's sovereignty. Today those very same people pat themselves on the back, as if defending the right of a tyrant to keep killing his own people were some great act of moral courage.

But even Saddam and Ahmadinejad are not particularly unique, because monsters proliferate in the Middle East like mushrooms after a rainstorm, growing off the oil money that their enemies send them, which they exchange for weapons and payments to their own loyalists to secure their base of power. Every petrodollar sent to the Middle East means death of a certain kind, whether it's the death of a passerby by a suicide bomb in Basra funded by Iranian or Saudi money, the death of an imported Indian contract worker in Dubai or the murder of an African Sudanese in Sudan. Either way oil money is death money, and the world knows it, and yet does nothing. No wonder Ahmadinejad keeps on smiling.

Love of the Land: Why is Ahmadinejad Smiling?

Love of the Land: Currents of denial run deep among the Left

Currents of denial run deep among the Left

Bataween
Point of No Return
15 February '10

Is denial of Arab and Muslim antisemitism fast becoming a pathology of the left? Read my guest post on CiFwatch.

Leopold1904 must be a bewildered man. His comment, on the Uri Dromi thread, stating the facts of the 1840 Damascus blood libel - which Dromi had invoked in his piece on the Jenny Tongue ‘Israel harvests organs in Haiti’ affair - was deleted by the Comment is Free moderator.

Does Leopold’s comment breach Comment is Free guidelines? Does it contain offensive or personal attacks? No. Is it defamatory? No. Is it irrelevant? No, it simply seeks to expand on Dromi’s cursory description of the Damascus blood libel. Its conclusion, that the affair ‘restoked the fires of European antisemitism’, is unassailable.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Currents of denial run deep among the Left

Love of the Land: Outside funding of NGOs threatens sovereignty

Outside funding of NGOs threatens sovereignty

Fresnozionism.org
15 February '10

News item:

NGOs that receive funding from a “foreign political entity” would have to register with the Political Party Registrar and declare in all public appearances that they represent an organization that receives funding from such an entity, according to a bill sponsored by Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin that received government backing from the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday…

According to the bill, no organization in Israel would be allowed to receive money from a foreign political entity unless it registers with the Registrar of Political Parties. The registrar would be responsible for the registry completely independent of his registry of political parties.

The NGO would have to list the aims of the organization, its address and the identification number of every key activist, including directors, members of the executive committee, active directors and those authorized to sign checks…

This would seem to apply both to foreign governments, fronts for same, and charities like the New Israel Fund (NIF).

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Outside funding of NGOs threatens sovereignty

Love of the Land: Palestinian Official: Israel Should Release PA Officer Who Murdered Israeli Last Week

Palestinian Official: Israel Should Release PA Officer Who Murdered Israeli Last Week

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
15 February '10

[In English on Monday afternoon 15 February 2010]

Question: Last week a Palestinian Police Officer (Mahmoud Yusef Nimer Hattib) killed an Israeli soldier (NCO Sgt 1st Class Ihab Khatib).

PA Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs - Information Department Director General Osama Al-Ghoul: Yes

Question: Now he is being held by Israel. Is it the position of the Palestinian Authority that he should be freed?

Osama Al-Ghoul: Of course. This is our struggle with the Israeli occupies (sic)

Question: He should be released. Fair enough. Not to be extradited but instead just freed.

Osama Al-Ghoul: Of course. We are fighting the Israeli occupied. This is our land.

Question: This is Osama Al-Ghoul right?

Osama Al-Ghoul: Yes.

Question: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Osama Al-Ghoul: Welcome. Anytime.

Love of the Land: Palestinian Official: Israel Should Release PA Officer Who Murdered Israeli Last Week

DoubleTapper: Doggy Style in Jerusalem

Doggy Style in Jerusalem

If you are in Jerusalem and need a quick meal,

try

Doggy Style Hot Dogs!

Let me know if you need directions!

DoubleTapper: Doggy Style in Jerusalem

RubinReports: Why Isn't There Peace? One Reason: Few People Know How Much is Being Offered

Why Isn't There Peace? One Reason: Few People Know How Much is Being Offered

Please subscribe for unique reportage and analysis. You can be subscriber 9,105!

By Barry Rubin

I’ve been having a dialogue through correspondence lately with someone describing himself as a moderate Palestinian who lives in the United States. What most impressed me in the exchanges--both from what my interlocutor said and how he described the views of other Palestinians--is the total lack of comprehension on their part—those who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip along with those who live elsewhere, both moderate and radical--about Israeli positions toward peacemaking that are easily available on the public record.

Among Palestinians, as more broadly with almost all of the public in the Muslim-majority world and a lot of the elite classes in Europe, there exists a mythical Israel, reminiscent of the fabricated antisemitic stereotypes of the past, that has little to do with reality. They believe Israel isn't interested in peace, doesn't offer the Palestinians anything, opposes any real Palestinian state, intends to keep the West Bank (until Israel's withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip they would have added that territory as well), and is led by intransigent hardliners. Such a conception was comprehensible--if not fully accurate--describing the situation in parts of the 1980s but has nothing to do with the last 20 years.

In 2010 they have no idea what Israel actually offered in the 1990s' peace process, or at the Camp David summit in 2000, or what President Bill Clinton offered with Israel's agreement in December 2000, or what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proffered in 2008, or what is in the current Israeli government’s peace offer in 2010. All proposed the creation of an independent Palestinian state, the first three in close to 100 percent and the last three as equivalent to 100 percent (with some small, equal land swaps) in size to the pre-1967 West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Lacking any knowledge of these offers, or at least knowing only very distorted ones, they can maintain that Israel has offered “nothing” and that therefore the continuation of the conflict is not due to Palestinian intransigence but Israel’s alleged opposition to the creation of a real independent Palestinian state. This reminds me of how Mahmoud Abbas, today leader of the Palestinian Authority, responded to some reasonably accurate descriptions in the Palestinian media of what Israel offered in 2000 at Camp David. It is better, he said at the time, not to talk about these things at all, presumably lest some Palestinians might think that it was a reasonable deal.

Anyone who actually lives in Israel knows that--whether they like it or not--Israel is ready to make big conessions and take reasonable risks to achieve peace. They know, whether or not they agree, that the overwhelming majority is ready to accept an independent Palestinian state as long as it is willing to end the conflict and live side by side in peace.

Outside Israel, far fewer people than should do so understand this reality. And that includes journalists,academics, and politicians. If they address the issue at all, they presume that Israel is asking the Palestinians to make some huge or unreasonable concession. Often, as noted above, their understanding of Israeli views is more than 20 years out of date.

But the Palestinians especially and these Westerners generally know even less about Israel’s own demands, which is not surprising since they are never explained in the Arabic-language media and virtually never mentioned in the Western media. These include security guarantees, non-militarization of a Palestinian state, an end to the conflict, and the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Palestine. For an analysis of Israel's current peace plan, if you would like to see what is actually on the table, see here.

The above observations can produce a simple definition of the difference between moderates and radicals. The radicals, both among the Palestinians and their Western sympathizers, know—even if they pretend otherwise—that they want all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea along with Israel’s elimination. This is true whether they seek it through a two-stage process, the dispatch of a million or two Palestinians to Israel in a peace agreement, a one-state solution, or a temporary binational state.

A moderate is someone who actually thinks the Palestinians today want a two-state solution and is genuinely fooled by the ploys outlined above. Consequently, the moderates--few as they are among Palestinians, more numerous in the West--can have the facts explained to them. But the radicals know precisely what they are doing and don't care about any chance for compromise.

RubinReports: Why Isn't There Peace? One Reason: Few People Know How Much is Being Offered

Elder of Ziyon: Today's incitement

Elder of Ziyon: Today's incitement

Elder of Ziyon: Mabhouh finger-pointing update

Elder of Ziyon: Mabhouh finger-pointing update

Elder of Ziyon: PalArab "refugees" killing each other in Lebanon again

Elder of Ziyon: PalArab "refugees" killing each other in Lebanon again

Elder of Ziyon: HuffPo prints MPAC lies

Elder of Ziyon: HuffPo prints MPAC lies

Israel Matzav: Misunderstood Muslim: 'Slaughter the Jews' means 'O Jews we will win'

Misunderstood Muslim: 'Slaughter the Jews' means 'O Jews we will win'

The Muslim student who screamed itabach al-Yahud (slaughter the Jew) at Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon last week at Oxford last week claims that what he screamed did not mean 'slaughter the Jews.'

The Oxford student who shouted “slaughter the Jews” in Arabic at Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon during his talk at the university last week says his remark was misunderstood.

The Oxford Student newspaper named the student as sophomore Noor Rashid and said that Rashid claimed he used a classical Arabic chant “Khaybar ya Yahod” which commemorates a seventh-century battle between Arabs and Jews.

The battle of Khaybar was an attack launched by the prophet Muhammad in 629. It led to the defeat of the Jewish community in the Arabian peninsula, forcing the Jews to pay half their income to the Muslim victors.

“My version went: ‘Khaybar, O Jews, we will win.’ This is in classical, Koranic Arabic and I doubt that apart from picking up on the word ‘Jew,’ that even the Arabic speakers in the room would have understood the phrase,” Rashid told The Oxford Student.

“As you can see, I made no reference to killing Jews,” he said, adding that the remark had “absolutely no derogatory or secondary meanings.”

It gets worse from there. Something tells me that little police investigation has something to do with Rashid's claims. But they remind me of Yasser Arafat's claims that he was waging a 'jihd for peace' (which is an oxymoron). Rashid is lying.

Israel Matzav: Misunderstood Muslim: 'Slaughter the Jews' means 'O Jews we will win'

Love of the Land: A proper site for a Museum of Tolerance

A proper site for a Museum of Tolerance

The Wiesenthal Center's project has been approved by the government and the courts, and will be built on property that is not a cemetery but a parking lot.


Marvin Hier
L.A. Times
12 February '10

Listening to the few vocal opponents of our Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem project -- among them the notorious Sheik Raed Salah, leader of the extremist Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel -- you would never know that the Israeli Supreme Court deliberated for almost three years before unanimously rejecting all their claims and authorizing the Wiesenthal Center to begin construction. Just six weeks ago, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish also rebuked those who re-petitioned the Supreme Court for an "abuse of court proceedings," ordering them to pay professional costs.

Still, our opponents would have you believe that in the name of tolerance, our bulldozers actually have invaded the adjacent Mamilla Cemetery, desecrating ancient Muslim tombstones and historic markers.

They don't want you to know the real facts. The museum is not being built on what can rightfully be called the Mamilla Cemetery, but on a three-acre site in the heart of West Jerusalem that, for more than half a century, served as the city's municipal car park. Each day, hundreds of people of all faiths parked in the three-level underground structure without any protest from Muslim religious or academic leaders or interest groups. Additionally, telephone and electrical cables and sewer lines were laid deep below ground in the early 1960s, again without any protest.

As the Supreme Court noted in its ruling, "for almost 50 years the compound has not been a part of the cemetery, both in the normative sense and in the practical sense, and it was used for various public purposes." It also noted: "During all those years no one raised any claim, on even one occasion, that the planning procedures violated the sanctity of the site, or that they were contrary to the law as a result of the historical and religious uniqueness of the site. . . . For decades this area was not regarded as a cemetery by the general public or by the Muslim community. . . . No one denied this position."

(Read full article)

Related article: Demagoguery at its finest

Love of the Land: A proper site for a Museum of Tolerance

Israel Matzav: Intel even more inside Israel than you thought

Intel even more inside Israel than you thought

Intel is even more inside Israel than you thought.

Intel Corp's Israeli subsidiary said on Monday its exports surged 145 percent in 2009 to a record $3.4 billion and the company is hoping growth will continue with further expansion in the country.

Exports rose thanks to Intel's new $3.5 billion chip manufacturing plant in southern Israel which came into full production in early 2009.

It is the third plant in the world to make processors with 45 nanometer-wide circuitry and Intel is negotiating with the Israeli government for a possible grant to expand the plant to include production of smaller 22-nanometre chips.

"We are competing with other countries on the ability to bring to Israel 22-nanometre technology," Intel Israel General Manager Maxine Fassberg told a news conference, adding that the company plans to have two 22-nanometre plants.

The first one will be built in Arizona and Fassberg said she'd like the second plant to be in Israel.

The investment to expand the Israeli plant is estimated at $2.7 billion, she said.

"We have asked for a decision (from Israel) by mid-March when Intel is due to make a decision," Fassberg said. "Intel's second 22 nanometer plant needs to start producing by the start of 2012."

...

Intel accounts for 10 percent of Israel's industrial exports and $7.3 billion has been invested in its operations in Israel, including $1.2 billion in grants from the government, Fassberg said.

Wow. And something tells me that they didn't invest in Egypt or Saudi Arabia at the same time either.

Israel Matzav: Intel even more inside Israel than you thought

Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

Overnight music video

Here's another Purim song. This is LaYehudim Hayesa Ora (And for the Jews, there was light), and it comes from Megillath Esther - which we read on Purim.

Let's go to the videotape.

Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

Love of the Land: Can it all be just a mistake?

Can it all be just a mistake?

Itzik Yarkoni
Sderot Media Center
09 February '10

Hamas officials said that a 52-page document has been compiled to testify that the offensive missiles fired during Operation Cast lead were “an accident” due to their weapon’s lack of aiming capabilities toward military installations.

However, section 1687 of the “Goldstone Report” presents that, “indeed, Palestinian armed groups, among them Hamas, have publicly expressed their intention to target Israel civilians.... claimed responsibility for the deaths of each of the Israeli civilians killed by rocket fired during the operations in Gaza”.

This begs the question: If Hamas weapon’s suffer from inaccuracy, maybe the information that was given to Goldstone is also off target?

I remember the first time that I heard about Sapir college was when I was traveling in the United States after the army. When I asked about the whereabouts of the college, a friend replied, “It is a nice place next to Sderot. However, the situation is a little strange. Rockets are launched towards the city daily”. I did not know what lay ahead for me at Sapir College, but I decided that I would take the risk. After all, I figured something would be done, eventually, to stop the rockets.

Eight years have passed since the first rocket was launched towards Sderot. The situation has not changed, I was wrong. More than ten thousand kassam missiles, grad, and mortar shells have been fired from Gaza, of which eighty-four fell in Sderot during Operation Cast Lead. Moreover, the “military installations” Hamas speaks of are nowhere to be found in the city. Where exactly were the rockets intended to fall?

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Can it all be just a mistake?

Israel Matzav: England's new anti-Semitism

England's new anti-Semitism

England's not the only place that has this new anti-Semitism - it's just one of the more prominent places.

This fourth kind of antisemitism is now more European than English but has a particularly English history, stemming from the intimacy of association between England and the Zionist project from the mid-19th century through to the mid-1950s. It denies to Jews the rights that it upholds for other, comparable peoples. It adheres to the principle of national self-determination, except in the Jews’ case. It affirms international law, except in Israel’s case. It does not understand that supporting the cause of Palestinian nationhood is one thing, while denying the right of Jews to live in their own state is quite another. It is outraged by the Jewish nature of the state of Israel, but is untroubled by, say, the Islamic nature of Iran or of Saudi Arabia. It regards as racist the social inequalities between Jew and Arab in Israel, while being indifferent to the legal inequalities between Muslim and non-Muslim in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim states.

It regards Zionism as uniquely pernicious, rather than as merely another nationalism, just as earlier generations of antisemites regarded Jewish capitalists as uniquely pernicious, rather than as heterogeneous members of a much larger capitalist class.

It writes out of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the massacres of Jews in Hebron (August 1929), Jerusalem (February 1948), and Kfar Etzion (May 1948), while treating the massacre of Arabs at Deir Yasin (April 1948) as proof of fundamental Zionist iniquity. It is reluctant to take a position on the Chinese occupation of Tibet, while holding the Israeli occupation of the West Bank an indefensible evil of global consequence. It is hostile to the United States, which it believes is dominated by Jews. It plays variations on well-established antisemitic tropes and deploys some new ones of its own — principally, that Israel may suitably be compared with Nazi Germany and/or Apartheid South Africa.

It treats UN, and UN committee and council, resolutions on Israel as if passed by impartial, apolitical bodies. It denies the existence of Islamic antisemitism, save perhaps as a Western import and of no practical consequence. While it excoriates racist sentiments found among Israelis, or in the complex history of Zionism, it refuses to acknowledge the racist themes towards Jews to be found in many currents of Arab nationalism. It overstates, on every occasion, and beyond reason, any case that could be made against Israel’s actions or policies, and wildly overstates the significance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in world affairs.

Longstanding antisemites now embrace “anti-Zionism” as a cover for their Jew-hatred. This is because, in relation to Israel, the antisemite finds a protected voice. The desire to destroy Jews is reconfigured as the desire to destroy or dismantle the Jewish state. The new anti-Zionism has become a cause for some English academics and political activists; it is commonly found in the universities and in student and university teacher associations. Anti-Zionism has renewed antisemitism, and given it a future.

Read it all.

Israel Matzav: England's new anti-Semitism